{"id":19351,"date":"2020-05-06T11:37:27","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T10:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/?p=19351"},"modified":"2020-05-06T11:37:27","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T10:37:27","slug":"5-tips-performing-improv-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hooplaimpro.com\/5-tips-performing-improv-online\/.html","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips for Performing Improv Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blog by Liam Brennan, teacher with\u00a0Hoopla Impro<\/a>. Liam is teaching an Online Performing Course<\/a> starting on Monday 11th May 2020.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As the worldwide improv community continues to make its exodus on to the online domain, day by day more discoveries are being made about the pitfalls and opportunities that our new medium presents.<\/span><\/p>\n

While many improv conventions have to fundamentally change, there are many positives to be found.\u00a0 For instance, it now just takes a couple of clicks to livestream and perform your show, it\u2019s now much easier to book international coaches and dream casts that would have been a logistical nightmare, now only require a Doodle Poll. Ah sweet Doodle Polls, the more things change, the more they stay the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it\u2019s way too early to imagine that anyone has really grasped this online improv malarky, I reckon I\u2019ve managed to collect some useful tips from the past two months of teaching, rehearsing and performing online.<\/span><\/p>\n

The exciting thing about this phase of discovery, is that in a couple more months this list could be totally different!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 1. All right, Mr Demille, I\u2019m ready for my close-up<\/b><\/h3>\n

One of the biggest changes for improv performers, is that we\u2019re now all screen actors rather than stage actors.<\/span><\/p>\n

When performing on stage, actors tend to make everything much bigger than if they were performing on screen. This is for practical reasons. To reach the audience at the back of the room, our voices need to be louder and our gestures need to be bigger.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, on screen, everything feels more impactful. A subtle facial gesture that would have been easily missed on stage, now takes up half of the audience’s view on screen. With screen acting, you can get a lot while doing very little.<\/span><\/p>\n

Play around with this in your next rehearsal. Experiment with subtle movements and focus on face acting. You\u2019ll find out that you had face muscles you didn\u2019t even know you had!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2. You\u2019re living in the future! (Slightly.)<\/b><\/h3>\n

Live performance is no longer as immediate as it once was on stage. Everything you do in a live improv show is now being delayed by about 20 seconds before it reaches your audience. Living 20 seconds in the future isn\u2019t just the lamest super power ever, it presents a problem when trying to get suggestions for your show.<\/p>\n

There are various fixes to this suggestion challenge. Before they start streaming, some teams have taken to putting up an image that has their logo, as well as a message requesting the first suggestion they need to be written in the comments section. This means you have suggestions before you\u2019ve even turned your cameras on.<\/span><\/p>\n

For teams that require multiple suggestions for a show, they can ask a scene earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, say a short form team wanted to play Pan Left (A), 3 Headed Expert (B) and New Choice (C) in their show:<\/span><\/p>\n